ILLEGAL immigrants have been discovered in the back of a refrigerated lorry on the M25 in Surrey, after the driver heard a disturbance.

He called 999 at about 8.40am on Wednesday after hearing people shouting from inside his truck, and immediately pulled up on the motorway's hard shoulder between junctions 10 and 11, for the A3 and Chertsey.

Surrey Police told him to keep the doors locked until officers arrived and also advised him to turn off the refrigeration unit.

Eighteen men and women were subsequently found in the back of the lorry.

Paramedics also attended the scene to assess the health of the stowaways.

The Home Office was informed, and the illegal immigrants were taken to Woking and Guildford police stations before being transferred to immigration centres in Dover and Croydon.

A female driver passing the scene at about 9.30am said she saw a group of "skinny-looking" men and women huddled up in blankets on the side of the road.

A spokesman for the Home Office UK Border Agency said: “A group of illegal immigrants discovered by the police have been swiftly and successfully transferred to our specialist teams of officers. We will remove those with no right to remain in the UK.”

He added: “Everyone detected at a lorry drop who we think is an illegal immigrant is arrested and brought to detention centres.”

The Home Office has not been able to confirm where the people were thought to have come from.

The discovery of the illegal immigrants caused some hold-ups, which were worsened by other traffic incidents on the M25 and A3 on Wednesday morning.